This article presented is in defense of the NBC Dateline reporter and a different view of the matter at the recent DefCon. Ryan Naraine brings up valid points on why the actions of those in attendance at the conference could be considered 'childish' and 'over-the-top' and 'unnecessary'. He mentions key points of what the reporter Madigan did, specifically breaking the rules, as what the DefCon subculture is built upon. Read the actual article for a full alternative perspective. How do you feel about the actions taken against the NBC Dateline reporter?

Personally my take on the matter is simple - I find what happened to Madigan totally justified - not on what she did, but the intent. NBC Dateline wished to 'expose hackers in the act of doing something illegal'. So in one fell swoop, the average American who thinks Internet Explorer is their operating system will see this and suddenly be wary of "all those evil hackers out there trying to get me". Does this reflect what a true hacker does? Of course not. Today in age they still do not use the proper terms of 'cracker' and 'hacker' much less go into the definitions of 'white hat' and 'black hat'. Madigan wished to do nothing of that sort - rather take the negative connotation of 'hacker' and simply profit from it.

The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available.